West introduced Waters as the president of Pathfinder Press and editor of numerous books on Cuba, including Ernesto Che Guevara's Episodes of the Cuban Revolutionary War and Bolivian Diary, and Harry Villegas's Pombo, a Man of Che's Guerrilla. West noted that Waters is editor of the Marxist magazine New International and has written extensively on the Cuban Revolution, the fight for women's rights, and other topics. "Pathfinder," she said, "is exciting and intellectually challenging."

About 90 people filled all the chairs the store had, and sat or stood in the aisles between bookshelves to hear Waters's presentation on Cuba, which was followed by a lively discussion period. Among those attending were students from the nearby University of California at Berkeley campus, students from California State University in Hayward, a young steelworker from a nearby mill, store patrons who stopped when they saw the crowd gathering, and some who regularly attend author speaking engagements at this large store.

Barnes & Noble set up an attractive display of Pathfinder books, and invited Waters to sign copies of her books as participants stayed to talk with her after the meeting. Sales included three copies of To Speak the Truth: Why Washington's Cold War Against Cuba Doesn't End, containing speeches of Fidel Castro and Guevara, and three of the issue of New International containing Waters's article "Defending Cuba, Defending Cuba's Socialist Revolution," as well as various pamphlets on Cuba. Some of the young people in attendance sat on the floor during the meeting leafing through Pathfinder titles.

Revolutions are made, Waters explained, when "millions set out to change the course of their lives, when humans say 'enough' to absolutely intolerable conditions. But it can't be done without leadership." The story of how such leadership was forged in Cuba out of the efforts of ordinary men and women is told by Che Guevara in Episodes of the Cuban Revolutionary War, Waters said.

By taking control over the means of production, the working people of Cuba were able to change social priorities. A different class was in power than under the U.S.-backed dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista. The Cuban workers and peasants took the product of their own labor and used these resources to advance the human condition in their country, Waters explained. Nationalization of the means of production eliminated the institutional foundations propping up racism and sexism.

Waters explained that the Cuban government did not implode in the late 1980s, as had happened in the Soviet Union and eastern Europe, because the working class was never driven from political power in Cuba.

One young participant in the meeting asked Waters how a revolution could take place in the United States. "We have seen the beginning of revolutionary struggles" in this country, Waters replied, struggles in which the elements of the third American revolution are clear. A thorough democratic revolution that would have created the conditions for racial equality was blocked with the defeat of Reconstruction after the Civil War, a defeat that coincided with the United States becoming an imperialist power for the first time, she noted.

She also pointed to the labor battles of the 1930s, in which working-class resistance to intolerable economic conditions began to take on a broader social character.

The 1987 stock market crash heralded the onset of another worldwide crisis of the capitalist system, one that will lead to great class battles. Whether these lead to a social revolution depends on leadership, she stated. Organizations need to be built that can point working people toward the overthrow of the capitalist system. Otherwise the same conditions created by capitalism will continue.

"The century that has already dawned will not be one of peace and prosperity for the capitalist system, but one of capitalist disorder," Waters said. "We can see it in Kosova, East Timor, Iraq. Economic crises will get deeper and more violent." Holding up a copy of the recently published Pathfinder book Cap-italism's World Disorder: Working Class Politics at the Millennium, Waters said that this is a world in which people are looking for solutions. "That is why the Cuban Revolution stands out as an example."  
 
 
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